Month: August 2015

It was a busy week here at Rush Order Tees, and for this blog, that only means one thing: More awesome customer designs!

This week’s Customer Design of the Week comes to us from Air Authority, a Montgomery, Alabama-based heating and cooling company, who won our judges over with their simplistic, elegant, and clever design.

Let’s see what they had to say about it:

Brian: The “Air Authority” design is a simple and sleek, and I chose it primarily because it’s everything a company logo should be. The company name is clever, and the graphic matches. It demonstrates that the company is friendly, competent, and professional, and it’s really just a good design, overall. The line work also deserves a mention! Well done.

Joseph: This design is charming and informative. While it is very apparent that the illustration is well done and shows that, not only will the technician show up with all the tools needed to get the job done, but that the job will be done with a smile. I mean, what more can you ask for?! It states clearly that this is the “authority” on all of your heating and cooling needs, and affirms this stance with the use of a badge. All said, this design is very “cool.” Ha! Get it?!

Mike: This design has a great concept. The company is named “Air Authority,” and they made a clever decision using the image of a police badge. The style is just cartoony enough to be fun, while still maintaining a certain level of professionalism. A strong color palette and solid typography really tie this together. You can understand, just by seeing this logo, that this company is professional and legitimate. The left chest placement of the design ties in with the idea of a badge in a really great way. This is definitely a very well thought out company identity and tee shirt design.

This week, we’re also featuring two new panel judges, Aidan and Tyra:

Aidan: This design stood out the most because I love how clean and creative it is. They positioned themselves as the “authority” in heating and cooling, and their authoritative use of the badge—like that of an officer’s—was very creative, and is definitely going to grab a lot of attention!

About Aidan: Aidan has a background in art for over 6 years, and currently assists multiple departments at Rush Order Tees. Here, she oversees artwork and customer proofs, as well as assists in obtaining final approval from customers ahead of order production. Aidan also assists the production floor with quality assurance. She loves coffee, traveling, exploring, burritos and animals. When not at Rush Order Tees, you can catch her doing other-art related jobs, such as artwork for tattooing, creating flyers for local rock shows, and even designing art for bands.

Tyra: This design really embraces the idea of superior service. The use of the shield truly embodies the word “authority,” and the placement on the left chest, coupled with the outline of a badge, was a clever way to really push the message further. Although the design incorporates a more cartoonish style, it doesn’t detract from its message and theme, but rather demonstrates a playful and fun side to a company of professionals.

About Tyra: Tyra is a Graphic Designer at Rush Order Tees, and graduated from The Art Institute of Philadelphia with a Bachelor’s in Media Arts and Animation. She loves playing Ms. Pac-Man and other classic video games. When she’s not working, you can usually find her doodling some bodiless characters, or indulging her near-fanatic obsession with pugs.

If you’re in the Montgomery area and want to learn more about what the folks at Air Authority are all about, click the link above, or check them out on Facebook! Thanks for an excellent design!

One of the best things about working at Rush Order Tees is that our entire company is founded on cool, creative ideas. Every shirt, every garment, and every order—they all begin with one thing: an idea.

Just imagine that—being able to work with and oversee hundreds of great ideas every single day; being able to take a very special and intimate look into the mind and heart of a complete stranger.

Can’t? Well, allow us to show you!

We asked our team of graphic artists—who review every single design that comes through our doors—to keep an eye out for their favorite designs throughout the week. We then assembled a panel of judges, who painstakingly reviewed every submission, and came to a consensus on one overall favorite.

This week’s Customer Design of the Week comes to us from Randall Shullin and the wonderful folks at the Can-Can Pub Crawl. While we don’t specifically seek out charities or fundraising organizations when considering our Design of the Week winners, we love what the Can-Can Pub Crawl is all about. All proceeds from the event—which, this year, raised over $10,000, according to Shullin—go directly to the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Aside from beer and charity coincidentally being two of our favorite things, this design was excellent. On the whole, our panel of experts chose this design for its simple style, flow, and complementary color palette. The message is straight and to the point, the imagery well thought out, and pleasing to the eyes. For a more in depth look at why this design stood out from the competition, let’s go to the judges:

Colton: “I ended up choosing the Can-Can Pub Crawl design because of the harmonious colors and the overall clean, simple crest design. The design utilizes cohesive clipart and fonts, all of which are properly weighted within the design. That makes for a great-looking t-shirt.

Here’s a quick designer tip: No matter what appears on a shirt, keeping all elements of the design consistent really increases its visual impact. This design perfectly demonstrates that principle of design.”

About Colton: Colton is a Rush Order Tees graphic artist, and has been with us nearly two years. Aside from his degree in Graphic Design and his appreciation for great work, Colton also possesses a great passion for screen printing. When he looks for a good design, he considers everything from its composition and color scheme, to how well it’ll translate to fabric. Colton spends his days preparing and perfecting customer designs—from the time we receive them, to the moment they’re printed.

Brian: “I selected the Can-Can Pub Crawl Design because it is simply a strong, cohesive design. It was clever, well thought out, aesthetically pleasing, and has an excellent color scheme. I’m also a fan of helping others and throwing back a few beers, so this design really tugged on my heartstrings. “

About Brian: Ask Brian about his career, and he’ll look you dead in your face and say, “I’ve been creating art since birth.” We don’t know how true that is, but we do know Brian is an incredibly talented graphic artist who possesses an exceptional eye for design. Brian has a degree in Studio Art, and an MFA in Combined Media, but his passion lies in his own art, from anything and everything he can get his hands on. Brian has been with us for about a year now, and his day-to-day responsibilities include reviewing and editing customers’ designs, and helping turn customer concepts into real-deal products.

Mike: “I selected the Can-Can Pub Crawl design because it just works on so many different levels. First off, it’s a gorgeously crafted illustration. The style is fun and quirky, while not coming across as too cartoon-y. The color palette is carefully crafted with great visibility, and the typography is solid. But, the best part for me is the concept. It absolutely conveys the point of the event, without beating you over the head with it. It’s a clever design that illustrates that the event is a charity pub-crawl to benefit the hungry. It’s really just brilliant.”

About Mike: Mike is a newer member of the Rush Order Tees team, and we’re proud to have him on board! A University of Philadelphia UArts alumni with a degree in Illustration, and a penchant for quality portraiture and advertising illustrations, Mike’s eye for excellence is finely tuned. Here at Rush Order Tees, Mike puts his eyes to work by helping customers say what they want to say, without their message getting lost in translation. You can find his independent work on his personal website, SMACZYLO.

Joe: “It’s almost as if this t-shirt was channeling Andy Warhol himself. It’s vibrant and whimsical, but still portrays a very clear and concise message. Its use of a muted triadic color scheme helps the design jump right off the cloth and into your heart, giving it an almost three-dimensional effect. It is a well-rounded design that begs you to look at it up and down, left and right. The design makes sure you take in all the information being presented. Very well done. Cheers!”

About Joe: Joe’s design career began at the age of 5, learning to draw stick figures with his grandfather (who was a master in stain glass windows). His career led him to work with big names such as Disney and Marvel, but Joe humbly admits that his favorite home has been right here at Rush Order Tees, where he has spent the last year and a half turning our customers’ dream tees into reali-tees. Joe loves his work here because he goes home every night feeling like he has made a legitimate difference in peoples’ lives and, as he says, “I never knew something as simple as a t-shirt could bring such joy.”

Philadelphia made headlines recently when a hitchhiking robot was brutally destroyed and its parts ransacked soon after arriving in the city.

The robot, a social and technological experiment of Canadian origin, was making its way across America—following an extensive trip across Canada and Europe—when it met its cruel fate in Philadelphia’s Old City neighborhood.

And for days, the city collectively wept.

How could it have happened? How, in such a beautiful city—a formidable New World of progressive creativity, burgeoning business, and incredible technological advancement—could something like this have happened?

For Philadelphians, our city is an inspiration. We are creative. We are passionate. We embrace new technology, and art, and grassroots endeavors like that of HitchBOT’s. Look at the beautiful Nightscape installation at Longwood Gardens. Look at our incredible murals and the plethora of other art installations and events that are literally always taking place in and around our beautiful city.

What happened to HitchBOT hit us, and many from the City of Brotherly Love, right where it hurts.

Enter: The Hacktory

Within hours of the hitchBOT story breaking, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit tech group called The Hacktory emerged with a plan to help rectify the issue and make right what one bad apple had made wrong.

The Hacktory’s Executive Director Georgia Guthrie explained how upset she and her group were over the news of hitchBOT’s untimely “death.” They posted publicly that they were trying to raise funds to help rebuild the broken bot and send it on its way, or contribute to the cause in any way possible.

Our hearts were filled with joy, and their desire to help their community and do the right thing tied in perfectly with our company’s business philosophy.

So…

Enter: Rush Order Tees and SpreadSpirit

We immediately reached out to the folks at The Hacktory and presented them with some commemorative t-shirts for the effort that they and their team put forth throughout the debacle. We were overjoyed that in the wake of such terrible and disheartening news, there was a group of people just trying to make the best of a bad situation.

After a brief conversation with Georgia, we headed out to their open “Hackathon” event to speak more with them about what they were planning to do. We came with the t-shirts, and were absolutely blown away by the amount of support The Hacktory was receiving from Philadelphia’s local tech scene (and beyond). Georgia and her team loved the shirts, and after a more in depth discussion, we decided to work together to help raise funds for the next step in this process.

Georiga’s team got to work on an awesome t-shirt design, and the crew here at Rush Order Tees and SpreadSpirit put together the campaign.

The result? #PhillyLoveBots.

But #PhillyLoveBots is About More than Just Robots

While robotics and technology is at the core of what The Hacktory is all about, this endeavor with Spreat Spirit and Rush Order Tees is about more than just building a robot; it’s about two Philadelphia organizations coming together to show the world why Philadelphia is indeed the City of Brotherly Love, or, in this case, #BotterlyLove.

In honor of HitchBOT, The Hacktory will build another robot, whose journey will resemble HitchBOT, but whose purpose is to show that Philadelphia refuses to be defined by one random, senseless, and insensitive act of violence and stupidity.

Enter Multiple Times

You can enter a new entry each day, just be sure to comply with the rules to copy 2-new friends each entry of each day (1 new entry/day). Have your fiends enter for you, whoever wins will be able to provide the email for the design to be printed!

Share Your Design w/ Friends

Did we say your friends can enter to win FOR YOU!!! Save your design and share in your social networks, and ask your friends to enter on your behalf or ask them to enter for themselves and additionally for you. The more entries we see the more winners we will pick. We love giving away free shirts!